2/25/17

We took a tour at The Penguin Place where the rarest penguins in the world are cared for.

Most of the yellow eyed penguins we saw were juveniles that were molting. Many of the juveniles are not prepared for this phase of their life the first year, so they are monitored and weighed and brought to the sanctuary if they are under-weight.

The penguins are not kept for more than 8 weeks as they are wandering creatures that do not do well in captivity.

In Maori, they are called 'Hoiho' which means 'noisy little buggers.' Well, that's close.

Below are two adults. Notice the face stripe that the juveniles don't have yet.

They make their lone nests along the shore, sometimes in grass, and not in colonies.

This reserve is the most northern that the penguins live, most of them living on the islands south of New Zealand's two major islands.

2/23/17

Ulva Island named after an island in the far north Shetland Islands. Most of Ulva Island is a predator-free national park and has many hiking trails and many unique creatures.

The white part of the rocks is not what you think. It's an algae that loves the sun.

These pied oystercatchers watched us sail by.

Remains of mining that was done on the island.

This is where the Post Office stood for about 70 years. Every 6 weeks or so, when mail came in, Charles Traill (the 'postmaster' and general store owner) would climb the nearby hill and raise a flag that everybody on all the islands could see. Then people would come by boat to pick up their mail.

The house in the photo belongs to his descendants who use it occasionally.

We didn't see any kiwi, but these are some tracks they left.

Until the 1970's (I think), people of Stewart Island would use the leaves of this tree as postcards!

They would write on the bottom side, slap a stamp on it and off it would go.

Umbrella moss.

Red crowned parakeet captured by Hubby.

Kaka (native birds) strip the bark from the totara trees, looking for bugs and the tree survives for many years.

A Stewart Island robin, found nowhere else in the world.

This photo isn't great but it was funny to see a weka chasing another down the path.

2/21/17

Hubby, Missy, the MIL and I took a boat ferry across Foveaux Strait, which takes about one hour from Bluff to Stewart Island. It was pretty rough and I was the only one that didn't have a technicolor yawn, if you know what I mean!

We had about 45 minutes before our nature tour started so Missy and I walked to 'town' for a quick look.

As we started to Ulva Island for our tour, this huge albatross buzzed the boat. I was so proud that Hubby got this great shot of it.

Hubby's photo

But, then more showed up.

Apparently, they think all boats are fishing boats, so they fly over all the boats looking for food. It was a magnificent sight to see them hove over our heads. For some reason, they reminded me of the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz!